angel flight west and angel flight northeast are nonprofits that run like a small airline for life-changing missions.

for example, angel flight northeast has been working with jetblue to assist transportation of family members that have been affected by the school shooting in florida.

all of the pilots volunteer their time, their aircraft, and their expertise in spreading kindness and lifting hope.

all of the angel flight passengers fly for free.

how angel flight works:

pilots volunteer for angel flight

each day, across america, “everyday joe’s” are getting into their personal aircraft and dedicating their time, their airplanes, and their own money to make a difference. they are flying sick kids, cancer patients, rescue dogs, wounded vets, environmental scientists, disaster response flights and many other missions of assistance. they fly these patients, animals, supplies, from one place to another when normal transportation is otherwise impossible. no one pays these pilots or reimburses their cost. they have the skill, the means and most important, the compassion and desire to fly for charity.

angel flight west has a team of 5 mission coordinators

who take requests from passengers and put the requests into their unique data base that the pilots can log into and see the flights that are requested.

each flight is given with no cost; angel flight west donations go towards the $200 operational expenses, to pay for rent, technology and personnel to organize each flight.

10% of all our glassybaby sales at the seattle-tacoma airport go to angel flight.

so far, that has added up to $159,253

which translates to 796 angel flights.

angel flight involves over 2,000 volunteer pilots

across 42 states

accumulating thousands of miles of air travel.

but there are some things we can’t put a number on:

we can’t count the smiles brought by the comfort of a generous heart,

and we can’t measure the spirits that are lifted by the power of hope.

but we know it adds up to a whole lot of goodness…and that’s what stories are for, to share from the heart.

name: Dax

number of angel flights: 1

age: 5 years old

region: Bozeman, Montana to Seattle, Washington

favorite cereal: Cheerios

five-year-old dax lives in bozeman, montana. the closest place he can receive a bone marrow transplant for a rare genetic disorder is 700 miles away in seattle, washington. his medical protocols require a consultation six-months post-transplant.

his parents planned the 11-hour car ride, but a snow storm hit bozeman and blocked the mountain passes and highway routes.

after hearing about angel flight west, dax’s parents put in a request for a flight.

because it was the holidays, at first, no one responded to angel flight’s initial messages to local pilots. dax’s dad explained, “they never gave up; angel flight west kept trying until they found a solution for us.”

on january 2, angel flight flew dax and his father from bozeman to seattle children’s hospital and seattle center care alliance for little dax’s bone marrow transplant.

name: aryana

age: 2.5 years old

number of angel flights: 11

region: southern california to boston, massachusetts

favorite ice cream: peanut butter cup

the only doctor in the united states who can perform a specific surgery and give Aryana a chance to hear for the first time lives in boston, massachusetts, 3,000 miles away.

after this particular surgery, the child who receives surgery needs check-ups every 2-3 months and it can take up to 3 years to be able to hear.

angel flight northeast arranges flights on jetblue for aryana and her mother to access these treatments. we hope that aryana responds well to treatment, and thank angel flight northeast for giving aryana this chance to heal and hear for the first time.

pilot steve danz received a special award for flying 1000 missions for the first time in angel flight west history.

one summer, steve offered to make two runs in a day — twice.

first he flew four kids from southern california to merced to attend a camp for deaf and hearing-impaired children. after dropping them off at camp, he flew up to sacramento to pick up four more campers and brought them back to merced. a week later he did the same trips in reverse. because of his generous heart, eight children were able to attend deaf and hearing-impaired camps -- many deaf children might only sign with family and do not have many opportunities to communicate with other children, leading to a sense of isolation, anxiety, and low self-esteem. at camp, they can just focus on being kids.